The Looper helmer confirmed that Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Willams), who was first introduced in The Empire Strikes Back and quickly became a favorite among Star Wars fans, won’t put in an appearance in the new movie set in a galaxy far, far away.

Despite earlier buzz he wouldn’t be in The Last Jedi, fans had still been hoping to see Billy Dee Williams (who’s now 80 years old and totally open to reprise the role in a Star Wars film) appear in Episode VIII via a cameo of sorts, if not as Lando himself. In the film, some of the characters will visit Canto Bight, a casino city that would have been the perfect home for the aging space scoundrel who once ran Bespin’s Cloud City.

Johnson opened up to Entertainment Weekly about the reasons why Lando will be MIA in the film, and it simply has to do with not having a place in the movie.

“No, and I don’t want fans to get their hopes up,” Johnson said. “He’s not in the film, and it was never really something that came up. I mean, I loved that character. It would have been fun to see him, but it’s just not something that ever really had a place in the story.”

While The Last Jedi won’t feature Lando, a younger version of the character played by Atlanta and Spider-Man:Homecoming's Donald Glover (who met with Williams about the gig) will fly alongside Alden Ehrenreich's (Beautiful Creatures) young Han in Solo: A Star Wars Story on May 25, 2018.